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Health Legal Privacy Policy
and Disclosure Statement
About Health Legal
Health Legal is a firm that focuses solely on the needs of the health
sector. The Health Legal team provides litigation, contracting and medico-legal
advisory services. In the past the team has prepared contracts covering
nearly every aspect of a hospital’s activities and has advised on
complex and sensitive patient, staff and legislative issues.
Our office is located at:
Level 1, 499 St Kilda Rd
Melbourne VIC 3004
Ph: (03) 9861 4001
Fax: (03) 9867 8580
Health Legal’s approach to Privacy
Health Legal is subject to the National Privacy Principles in the Privacy
Act 1988 (Cth). Health Legal takes its obligations under the Privacy Act
seriously and has taken all reasonable steps in order to comply with the
Act and protect the privacy of any personal information that we hold.
Health Legal respects your privacy and is committed to ensuring that
your privacy is maintained.
This Privacy Policy and Disclosure Statement explains in general terms
how Health Legal protects the privacy of your personal information under
the National Privacy Principles. It also sets out the matters which we
are required to disclose to individuals under the National Privacy Principles
. The principles set out ourPrivacy Policy and Disclosure Statement will
apply to any personal information you provide to Health Legal via our
web site or under any agreement or arrangement and to information which
we collect about you from other sources.
How we collect your personal information
“Personal information” is any information about you that
identifies you or information by which your identity can be reasonably
determined. For example, your name and address is personal information.
We generally collect your personal information directly from you. For
example, we may collect personal information about you when you deal with
us over the telephone, send us correspondence (whether by letter, fax
or e-mail) or when you have contact with us in person. As such, personal
information is generally collected during the course of our relationship
with you.
Generally, the type of personal information we collect about you includes
your name, mailing address, telephone number and e-mail address. In certain
circumstances, we may also collect sensitive information about you such
as information about membership of a professional or trade association
or health information.
In most cases we will require you to specifically consent to any collection,
use or disclosure of your personal information by Health Legal. Your consent
will usually be required in writing, but we may also accept your verbal
consent. Sometimes your consent may also be implied through your conduct
with us.
In some circumstances we may need to collect personal information about
you from a third party. For example, we may collect personal information
from a company for whom you work, other organisations with whom you have
any dealings, an insurance company where we are pursuing a claim on its
behalf, another firm of lawyers who may not be able to act for you, a
credit reporting agency, an information service provider or from a publicly
maintained record.
If we collect personal information about you from a third party, we will
take reasonable steps to contact you and ensure that you are aware of
the purposes for which we are collecting your personal information and
the organisations to which we might disclose your personal information.
Use of cookies
We do not use cookies on our site and are therefore unable to identify
users or track navigation by any user.
Why we collect your personal information
Health Legal collects personal information for the following purposes:
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to provide you (if a client) or your organisation with legal advice;
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to consider making offers of employment or for employment purposes;
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to receive services from you or the organisation which employs you;
and
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to advise you of legal developments and to undertake other marketing
activities.
You are not obliged to disclose your personal information to us. However,
if you do not provide the information requested, we may not be able either
to provide you with appropriate legal advice or to fulfil another applicable
purpose of collection.
How we use or disclose your personal information
Health Legal may disclose your personal information in certain circumstances.
We may disclose your personal information where you have consented to
us doing so, and also where we are required or authorised to do so by
law.
Your consent to the disclosure of your personal information can be made
explicitly, either in writing or verbally, or may also be implied from
your conduct. Where you have engaged us to provide legal services, and
in the provision these services we are required to disclosure your personal
information to a third party, you consent to this disclosure will be implied
when you engage us unless you tell us otherwise.
If you are our client or are employed by a client of Health Legal, we
may disclose your personal information to barristers or experts such as
doctors or surgeons.
In other cases, we may disclose your personal information to our clients
where we have collected that information in the course of providing legal
services to them.
We will use and disclose personal information for the primary purpose
for which it was collected. We may also use and disclose personal information
for purposes related or secondary to the main reasons we collect it, such
as invoicing, reminder notices, provision of information concerning legal
developments and other services offered by us. Health Legal does not disclose
your personal information to a third party for the purposes of allowing
them to market their products or services to you.
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Other people's information which you provide to us
If you provide personal information to us about someone else (such as
one of your board members or employees or someone with whom you have dealings)
you must ensure that you are entitled to disclose that information to
us and that, without us taking any further steps required by privacy laws,
we may collect, use and disclose such information for the purposes described
above. For example, you should take reasonable steps to ensure the individual
concerned is aware of the various matters detailed in this Health Legal
Privacy Policy and Disclosure Statement as those matters relate to that
individual, including our identity, how to contact us, our purposes of
collection, our information disclosure practices, the individual's right
to obtain access to the information and the consequences for the individual
if the information is not provided.
Our duty of confidentiality and obligations of non-disclosure
We have a duty to maintain the confidentiality of our clients' affairs,
including personal information. Our duty of confidentiality applies except
where disclosure of a client's personal information is:
Health Legal may be subject to obligations of non-disclosure in respect
of personal information which it holds arising from the fiduciary duties
it owes its clients, or as a result of professional conduct rules which
apply to Health Legal.
In many cases, information which we hold will be subject to legal professional
privilege and will therefore not be liable to disclosure.
Ensuring your personal information is up-to-date
We take reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information is
accurate, complete, and up-to-date whenever we collect or use it.
If any of the personal information we hold about you is inaccurate, incomplete
or out-of-date, please contact us immediately and we will take reasonable
steps to correct this information or, if necessary, we will discuss alternative
action with you.
Security of your personal information
We protect any personal information that we hold from misuse, loss, unauthorised
access, modification and disclosure.
Your personal information may be stored either in hard copy documents
or as electronic data in Health Legal's software or systems.
We maintain physical security over our paper and electronic data stores
and premises, such as locks and security systems. We also maintain computer
and network security. For example, we use firewalls (security measures
for the Internet) and other security systems such as user names and passwords
to control access to our computer system.
When we no longer require your personal information, it is our practice
to securely destroy or delete it from our system. Generally speaking,
this occurs 7 years after your file has been archived.
Gaining access to information we hold about you
We will, on request, provide you with access to the personal information
we hold about you unless there is an exception which applies under the
Privacy Act such as where we have a legal duty of confidentiality or non-disclosure
as mentioned above.
Your request to obtain access will be dealt with as quickly as possible
and we will endeavor to process any request for access within 30 days
after receiving it. However some requests may take longer than this depending
on the nature of the personal information being sought. In certain circumstances,
a fee may be charged to cover Health Legal’s reasonable cost of
providing you with access.
If we refuse to provide you with access to the information, we will provide
you with reasons for the refusal.
Commonwealth identifiers
Commonwealth identifiers are numbers assigned by the Commonwealth government
or a Commonwealth government agency to uniquely identifying an individual
for the purposes of the organisation’s operations. For example,
a Tax File Number or Medicare Number.
Health Legal does not use Commonwealth identifiers as a means of identifying
you.
Anonymity
Whenever it is lawful and practicable, you may have the option of not
identifying yourself when dealing with us. For example, when making an
enquiry about the type of products or services we offer.
However, the nature of the provision of legal services is such that you
will not be able to remain anonymous when dealing with us.
Transfer of information to foreign countries
Generally speaking, Health Legal does not transfer you personal information
to foreign countries. Health Legal will only transfer your personal information
overseas where it is authorised to do so by law, or you have consented
to it.
How to contact us
If you wish to gain access to your personal information or make a complaint
about a breach of your privacy or if you have any query relating to Health
Legal's Privacy Policy and Disclosure Statement, please contact our Privacy
Officer:
Telephone: (03) 9861 4001
Mail: Level 1, 499 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne VIC 3004
Fax: (03) 9867 8580
Email: natalie.franks@healthlegal.com.au
We will respond to your query or complaint as soon as possible.
If you are not satisfied with the result of your complaint to us, you
can contact the Federal Privacy Commissioner
Telephone: 1300 363 992
Mail: Director of Complaints, Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner,
GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001
Fax: (02) 9284 9666
Email: privacy@privacy.gov.au
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